


Restless for Whatever Comes Next

by larkofchaos



Series: Henry Oak and his Boys [3]
Category: Dungeons and Daddies (Podcast)
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Trans Henry, i know it's tagged as gen but the romance content is way low, i started writing soem trans Henry content as warm-up oneshots and now I've gone into a hole, life do be like that some times, soemtimes you just gotta project the fuck outta henry oak after you rename yourself after his son, this is just oak family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:00:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27175567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larkofchaos/pseuds/larkofchaos
Summary: When Henry Oak started questioning his gender, he didn't think it'd be when he's already married with two beautiful boys. Much less when his wife identifies as lesbian. Telling Mercedes he's a trans man was one of the scariest things he's ever done, especially with the boys preparing to go into middle school. Now, they have to navigate this new territory together, while also being parents and figuring it out with their boys.But, when he hears his son call him 'father' for the first time, Henry thinks all the confusion and nights of tears and anxiety might be worth the trouble
Relationships: Henry Oak & Lark Oak, Henry Oak & Sparrow Oak, Henry Oak/Mercedes Oak-Garcia
Series: Henry Oak and his Boys [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1891336
Comments: 3
Kudos: 33





	1. my name is henry

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is gonna be a small collection of connected one-shots, if I add future chapters those will have more words and what not. More of an actual plot.

His hand trembled as he stared at the floor, unable to bring himself to look her in the eyes as they sat here in a tense silence. How did he even address this? How did he bring this up to her? What if she left him? Left him behind... Took to the kids and high tailed and- 

"What did you wanna talk about, [Henry]?" Mercedes asked, leaning forward in her chair and going to lay a hand on Henry's shoulder but thinking better of it and set it back in her lap. The words felt stuck in his throat, like they were scratching, clawing to get out but something forced them down and wouldn't let him complete them. He nodded to himself, mumbling to try and hype himself up. He felt like he was holding a pistol, pointing it at her head and waiting to take the aim. Take the aim and risk the bullet not being a blank. He was playing Russian Roulette, and the barrel was getting closer and closer to being loaded. 

"I-I um... I- okay... Okay... shoot... Um-" He gulped down his anxieties, digging the heels of his palms into his thighs. He could feel the panic attack, just bubbling under the surface. The words were right there, right on the tip of his tongue just begging his hesitation to cut it out long enough for him to say them. To say them with confidence, to declare proudly to her that, "I'm- I'm trans?" It came out as a question, which is exactly  _ not _ how he wanted to say it. But he said it. He said it, and it's out there. The words have left his mouth and he can never take it back now. He's fired the bullet, fingers going numb and dread setting in to see if he's survive this tricky game that they called love. That they called gender and dysphoria. 

Mercedes looked a bit... startled for a moment, then like she was processing. Henry could tell the words were just taking a moment to process, hell, he  _ understood _ why they were taking a moment to process. He gets it. He'd be a bit freaked to if the woman you've been married to for a decade, the woman you have kids with, came to you one day and just dropped the fucking bomb of "oh by the way, I'm trans and wanna be a dude" out of nowhere like this. He himself took almost thirty years to realize he wasn't cisgender. He had spent so many nights sneaking around on the internet searching for answers after Mercedes went to sleep. But, he wasn't sneaking anymore. He'd fallen out of his hiding space in the ceiling and dropped in the middle the ship deck, a stowaway amongst women who was just discovered and wished desperately he could go back into hiding and pretend he never said anything, pretend he was still Mrs. Oak-Garcia and-

"Oh- O-okay, hon. We can talk about this, okay? You know I'll support you, no matter what. I love you. So, what do you..." She stopped, thinking over her words for a moment, "How do you wanna move forward from here? Is there a new name you want? Do you just wanna play around with names? Do you just wanna keep moving forward as normal and leave it be? What's  _ your _ situation?" It was a blank. 

Out of all the reactions in the world Henry could've predicted Mercedes to have, this was not one of them. He remembered admitting to his father when he was younger he wasn't sure he liked being a girl, the backhanded support he got. The way his father told him everyone feels that way and that he should just deal with because no one wants a burden like that. Henry thinks about the horror stories he'd read online of loved ones reactions when other trans people had come out, the graphic tales of violence and transphobia that he'd read and freaked himself into believing Mercedes may react that way. Which, looking on it now sounded absurd. This was _Mercedes,_ if anyone was gonna support him, it was Mercedes. Mercedes who looked at their little nine-year-old Sparrow, who saw a nonbinary person on the TV and decided they wanted to be one to, and said 'sure, honey, go right ahead and be that.' Mercedes who he's literally watched punch a transphobic person in the face at Pride before. Mercedes who's always been one of the most accepting and loving people he's ever met. 

"I- I um... Henry?" He sounded so unsure of himself again. He knew he did. But it was Henry. His name was Henry. He's been messaging in online forums under different aliases, and he had always found himself feeling most comfortable with Henry. Even if he tested out other names he liked, he always really enjoyed Henry as his name. It felt the most authentically him. 

You can only script out a conversation so well before actually having it, and more often than not when you actually start it? All your hours of prep, your nights spent awake thinking about what to say first is just  _ forgotten.  _ Henry thinks that's what's happening know. He had his script, his one man play he was going to perform eloquently for Mercedes. Now that script was thrown into the fire, all his planning for nothing as every outcome he thought of was not the one Mercedes was giving him. 

She nodded, and the knot in his stomach was just twisting tighter and tighter. She nodded, and she smiled. It was slow, it was small at first. But it grew into this pleasant grin. "Henry fits you, darling. I like it." And his heart lit up with all the reasons he'd fallen in love with her, all the ways she'd captured his heart and held him so tightly. They made eye contact and just stared at each other for a minute. The tears were welling up in Henry's eyes, coming up so fast that Henry could do nothing to stop them as he pressed his hand to his chest to try and get some semblance of balance back and could do nothing but give a shocked beat of laughter. "I guess I'm not a lesbian anymore, huh, my love?" Henry choked on his own words, laughing harder then he should. But if felt so good to laugh when his past week he's spent living in absolute terror. 

Mercedes arms wrapped around him, pulling him into a hug that left Henry knowing nothing except the fact that he was absolutely adored in every meaning of the word. That if nothing else, he's loved. 

"Thank you... Thank you. I love you." 

"I love you too." 

"Thank you..." 


	2. gender euphoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> just a collection of random scenes where henry experiences gender euphoria after coming out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is just a collection of more scenes. I forgot how many of these I had unpublished. 
> 
> glennry gang, if you're here; the next chapter I publish has glennry undertones and I hate every single one of you for it. how dare you make me write such content. /j 
> 
> but yeah, merc and henry are in an open relationship and it's poggers.

He knew the adjustment was weird, especially for the kids. He told both of the beautiful boys to still call him mom, if that's what they felt comfortable with. He just didn't want to confuse their young brains too much. Hell, he confused himself enough. Which, is why it's so jarring when Sparrow looks up at him. 

"But if you're a boy, why would I call you mom?" He questioned, those eyes pouring into Henry with so much love. 

"Well, you can call me dad if you'd feel more comfortable with that, I just- I want you guys to feel as... as comfortable as possible. I- I know this can't be easy on you boys." He explained, voice doing that weird pubescent cracking things it does when he gets nervous. He could hear the faint noises of Mercedes cooking in the other room. 

the twins looked at each other, then back at Henry. "Well, then, father, I believe that is what we shall call you." Sparrow started with a nod to solidify it with himself. "Yes. Father sounds much better than mother. don't you think, Father?" Lark chimed in, bouncing up onto his feet. 

"Father?" Henry had barely registered the moments after Sparrow called him father the first time. He hadn't quite registered just how much being referred to as a man meant to him, until Sparrow had done it. the amount of validation and confidence and downright euphoria that shot through him at being called father.... 

"Father why are you crying?"

"n-no reason. it's nothing, boys. I just- i just expected today to go a lot differently."

* * *

Henry honestly can't believe he's actually doing this. Letting Mercedes do this. She wasn't letting him look in a mirror, not for a second. It was stressing him, just a little bit. 

What exactly is Mercedes doing? Cutting his hair. She had tied his almost ass-length blonde hair that he spent years growing out into a ponytail and cut it all off. the weight off his head was liberating, honestly. It made him feel masculine in a way he hasn't before.  She was still trimming it all up. she didn't tell him what she was doing, just that she was gonna cut it. and he trusts her. if she can manage to cut the twins hair and make it look good, obviously she could do his.  Mercedes fingers ran through the newly shortened hair a few times, and Henry felt his heart rate rise slowly. 

"All done, Lion." she cooed, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Go take a look." she pat his shoulders and nudged him to stand up. 

He pushed himself out of the chair, walking into the bathroom and watching Mercedes follow him. H e kept his eyes closed, for a second, mentally preparing himself for the image he was above to see. he didn't know what to expect but as he opened his eyes- 

_oh, there you are_

_There you are_

He ran his hand through the buzzed hair, his hands trembling as he ran his hands over the newly shortened blonde hair. He almost didn't recognize himself in the mirror. but it was a good kind. it was such a good kind of unrecognizable. The best kind of unrecognizable. The kind that made his heart sore and his confidence spike through the roof. A confidence he hadn't known in.... in ever. 

"Do you like it?" Mercedes asked. His chest felt the most pleasant kind full he's ever felt, eyes well with a familiar heat of tears. 

"its me. Merc- Merc it's me." was the only cognitive thought he could get out. 

_ there you are, Henry  _

"Yeah, baby, it's you." He felt her arm around his waist, pulling him into a warm hug.

* * *

Henry was sitting at the kitchen island, listening to Mercedes talk about her day at work. He sipped his honeyed tea, smiling as she rattled on. 

"So, yeah, Jess was talking about her husband, right? And so she asked me if I was married which doesn't matter but, like, small talk I guess. and so I said, 'yeah, my husband, Henry and I have been together since we were in our early twenties- blah blah and-" Honestly, Henry didn't hear that rest. his brain latched onto 'my husband' and stuck there. it played like a broken record in his head. 

_ she called me her husband  _

"Darling? Hey, is something wrong?" Mercedes asked, coming to sit across from him. Henry snapped back, "Huh? yeah? n-no. no. I just- .... your husband..." Coherent thoughts were not working today, as obvious enough. 

"yeah, my husband. do you not like it? I could call you my wife, or my spouse, or-"

"NO! no, no, I.... I love it. I love it."

"Well, then husband, what do you want for dinner?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nO i am not projecting my girlfriend's reactions to me coming out as nonbinary onto the Oak-Garcias shut the fuck up this is NOTHING


End file.
